SAJAN KUMAR AGARWAL Vs. STATE OF SIKKIM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The only question for determination herein is whether the Respondent No.2 ought to be directed to accept the Tender Bid Documents including the Term Deposit Receipt (hereinafter "TDR"), of Rs.90,62,000/- (Rupees ninety lakhs and sixty two thousand) only, submitted by the Petitioner on 07.03.2019 at 12.20 p.m., beyond the stipulated time of submission, fixed at 12 noon, by the Respondent No.2.

(2.) The Petitioner is a registered Government Contractor, Grade IAA. An advertisement was published in a local daily newspaper "Sikkim Express," dated 02.03.2019, on behalf of the Gangtok Smart City Development Limited Sajan Kumar Agarwal vs. The State of Sikkim and Another (hereinafter "GSCDL"), inviting sealed Tenders from eligible Contractors enlisted with the State Government, for construction of Social Housing for Economically Weaker Sections, under Affordable Housing for Urban Poor at Sokaythang, Gangtok, East Sikkim. The advertisement, in the paragraph "Instructions to Bidders," specified inter alia that a complete set of Bid Documents may be purchased by interested eligible bidders from the Chief Executive Officer, GSCDL, on payment of nonrefundable cost of Bid Documents. Forms would be available from 05.03.2019 to 06.03.2019 between 13:00 Hrs to 15:00 Hrs. The Petitioner, in response thereto, purchased the said Bid Documents for Rs.2,00,000/- (Rupees two lakhs) only, vide a Demand Draft of the Central Bank of India, Gangtok Branch, dated 04.03.2019 payable to "CEO, GSCDL." Admittedly, the last date for submission of the Bid Documents was fixed on or before 12:00 Hrs on 07.03.2019. The Petitioner avers that although he attempted to collect the entire Bid Documents from the Respondent No.2 on 05.03.2019 at 13:00 Hrs, he was told that the said documents were not ready and was instructed to collect it on 06.03.2019. The documents were issued to him on 06.03.2019 at 14:00 Hrs. On 07.03.2019, the Petitioner telephonically sought extension of one hour for submission of the documents, from the Additional Chief Engineer and the Assistant Engineer of the GSCDL in view of the time taken to complete the documents and the aforestated circumstances, apart from being obstructed by traffic on the same day. An assurance was given by the Additional Chief Engineer that his request shall be taken Sajan Kumar Agarwal vs. The State of Sikkim and Another into consideration. However, when the Petitioner reached the Office of the GSCDL at 12.20 Hrs, he found the Office closed despite the fact that the Office Hours are till 4 p.m. and thereby could not submit his Bid Documents. The Petitioner however learnt that the Respondent No.2 had relaxed the scheduled time for other Contractors and had permitted them to file their Bid Documents at around 12.10 p.m. while denying him of such opportunity. Laying the blame at the door of the Respondent No.2 for availability of the Bid Documents only on 06.03.2019 instead of 05.03.2019, the Petitioner sought the following reliefs i.e., a direction to the Respondent authorities to accept his Bid Documents for the Contract Work as published vide "Notice Inviting Re-Tender (NIT) No.GSCDL/TENDER/NIT/SHEWS/2019 vide its Ref. No.15/ SPV/GSCDL/SHEWS/2019, Dated 28-02- 2019," in Sikkim Express on 02.03.2019, and in the alternative, to quash the said Notice. A further direction was sought to the Respondents to re-tender the Contract Work.

(3.) The Respondent No.1 had no Counter-Affidavit to file.